Arizona Cities Starting to Switch to LED Lighting

Cities throughout Arizona are taking advantage of the latest electric technologies and saving energy while they’re at it.

Carmanah has completed an installation of EverGEN 1500 solar LED lighting systems for a solar street lighting application in Phoenix, Ariz. Situated at the entrance to the Desert Botanical Gardens and the Phoenix Zoo, the solar streetlights are being used to illuminate the roadway and round-about at this key intersection.

The solar street lighting allowed the City of Phoenix to increase the safety of the intersection while avoiding the need to trench for electrical cables. The new lights will provide significant cost savings and eliminate disruption to the flow of traffic in this tourist location.

Phoenix is not alone in using this ingenuity. The City of Avondale currently has a decorative street lighting project underway.

“It’s kind of a mini-city center and park area where the LEDs line the streets and walkways,” said Cliff Tolman, project manager for Wright Engineering.

Tolman estimated approximately 100 street lighting fixtures are used in the area with extra lighting in the parking lot and park.

Additionally, the City of Mesa is currently implementing LED lighting into the city’s streelight system.

“They seem to work the best photometrically as opposed to using induction lighting,” said City of Mesa Streelight System Supervisor Richard Woodward. “Normally we use High Pressure Sodium (HPS) but there was a desire to save energy; that’s why this whole project came about.”

RC Lurie Specifications Specialist Bob Stamper said that these lights not only conserve energy but also offer a higher quality of light.

“Saving energy is the main driver of course but for us lighting geeks, we like the light the LED gives,” said Stamper. “It doesn’t change the tint of things. Green looks green and blue looks blue. What happens with an LED is that we’re able to put the light on the street in a much more even fashion. The uniformity of the illumination allows lower levels of light with the same amount of visibility.”

Woodward said the Mesa project is being funded by a grant from the Department of Energy as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.